zombie
/ˈzɑmbi/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.94 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person, usually undead, animated by unnatural forces (such as magic), with no soul or will of his or her own, typically being slow, obedient, and harmless unless directed to be harmful.
noun
A dead person, reanimated through some fictional agency as a fungus, virus, or the like, that has an insatiable desire to eat living humans, typically depicted as aggressive, fast moving, and infectious.
noun
An apathetic or slow-witted person.
noun
noun
Someone or something that should be dead but is not.
noun
An information worker who has signed a nondisclosure agreement.
Example Sentences
- "Betsy Connell: I don't know about zombies, doctor. Just what is a zombie? / Dr. Maxwell: A ghost. A living dead. It's also a drink."
- "The rumour had started that he was the Zombie or living corpse of Baron Samedi himself, the dreaded Prince of Darkness, and he fostered the story so that now it was accepted through all the lower strata of the negro world."
- "The zombies were having fun The party had just begun The guests included Wolf-Man, Dracula, and his son."
- "Ashley: Dad passed on a few years back. He's probably still watching, though. Shepard: He's not a zombie, is he?"
- "The zombies first show up 20 minutes in, after Melanie volunteers herself as the next child to mysteriously disappear in the middle of the night. That’s when we learn that Melanie and her classmates are all “hungries,” or people infected with a toxic fungus that turns them into mindless flesh-eating animals."
- "After working for 18 hours on the computer, I was a zombie."
Etymology
First attested in the 18th century. Partially through Louisiana Creole zombi (“zombie; ghost”), Haitian Creole zonbi (“zombie”), and French zombi (“zombie”). Ultimately from a Bantu language. Compare Kongo nzambi (“god”), zumbi (“fetish”), and Kimbundu nzumbi (“ghost”) (see Portuguese zumbi, Sranan Tongo dyumbi), and Caribbean folklore's jumbie (“a spirit or demon”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: -
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈzɑmbi/
- British English: /ˈzɒmbi/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Military.